An unconventional pairing: Scialatielli with salmon

One of the main challenges is finding the right food and wine pairings, especially when looking for something out of the ordinary.
Another issue is choosing dishes that are simple, delicate, and quick to prepare.
In this article we will present the recipe for Scialatielli al limone e salmone with a suggested wine pairing.

The recipe: ingredients

Recipe for 5 people:

500 g. of scialatielli
200 g. of smoked salmon
350 ml. of fresh cream
100 g. of butter
3 shallots
1 small glass of whisky
1 lemon
A few drops of vinegar
Chopped parsley
Salt
Pepper

Preparation of scialatielli al limone e salmone

Melt the butter and sauté the finely chopped shallots, a little parsley and a strip of lemon zest cut into very small pieces (to avoid discomfort while chewing); add the salmon in chunks and sear it briefly. Then deglaze with the whisky, the vinegar and the juice of ¼ of a lemon, stir for a few minutes and add the cream, season with salt and pepper, over low heat allow to thicken (N.B. Fresh cream takes longer to cook than the packaged variety).
Cook the pasta in water into which you will place all the zest from the pressed lemon; after boiling remove the zest (to make the process easier you can simply insert the lemon cut into 4 pieces) and add the lemon juice you set aside; drop in the pasta and cook until done.
Once drained set aside a glass of the cooking water.
Add the scialatielli to the salmon sauce, stir gently and slowly add the reserved water; once dried serve with some freshly chopped raw parsley, a slice of lemon and a little smoked uncooked salmon, and if possible for a purely decorative effect place a lemon leaf on the plate.

The wine

Now let's talk about the wine – for a simple and delicate dish I recommend a wine with the same characteristics. In this case I chose an Offida DOC Pecorino from cantina Casalfarneto, part of the "Le Colline" line that the winery bottles for distribution through large retail channels.
A very beautiful winery built in a way that does not detract from the fantastic Marche landscape.
Il Pecorino is an ancient wine, fortunately rediscovered not too long ago.
The wine we are about to drink is distinguished by the denomination "Offida Doc" recognised in June 2001, the most recent among the Marche DOCs; it takes its name from an ancient municipality in the province of Ascoli Piceno.
Offida Doc is a wine produced in the styles of red wine (also Superiore and Novello), Pecorino, Passerina (also Passito), Vin santo and Spumante.

Production

The harvest is carried out by hand and the wine is obtained using the technique of white vinification:
• pressing of the whole cluster
• extraction of the must obtained partly from the first and partly from the second pressing cycle up to 1.2 atm.
• clarification of the must by cold static decantation
• fermentation at controlled temperature
• ageing of the wine in stainless steel tanks for 4 months
• tartaric stabilisation by refrigeration at -4°C for 6 days
• cold sterile bottling by microfiltration
• bottle refinement for 3 months


A delicate wine: colour, nose and palate
Now let's "pop the cork" – it has a colour of straw yellow, often with greenish reflections. On the nose it presents spiced notes and on the palate it reveals a soft taste with hints of ripe fruit, rennet apple, liquorice, acacia blossom and jasmine.
It is a wine of great structure and typical varietal personality, with good acidity, fresh, fairly soft, mineral, balanced and harmonious. It has a sophisticated and delicate taste, enveloping, yet without masking the flavours; it should be served at a temperature of 10–12 degrees and has a fairly high alcohol content ranging from 13° to 13.5°.

A competitive price
The price is negligible given the quality and ranges from 6 to 11 euros in large retail outlets and wine shops, and the quality-to-price ratio reflects this.